Semyon Varlamov will start in goal for the Avalanche and, yes, defenseman Zach Redmond will make his season debut Friday night against Vancouver at the Pepsi Center.

Here are the game notes.

Maybe Varlamov, who missed the past three games to recover from a groin injury, and an expected sellout crowd can provide the spark the Avalanche need to start turning things around.

The Avalanche will need strong efforts from everybody against a Canucks team that has gone 7-2-1 against them in the past 10 meetings.

"I want us to be ready individually tonight," coach Patrick Roy said. "I want our guys to go home this afternoon and think individually what they need to do for tonight's game -- win their battles, skate hard, be sharp around their net. If we're doing a good job individually I think we'll have a good night."

The Avalanche have had a lead at some point in their past five games but have lost four in a row, two in overtime.

What is Roy hoping to get from Redmond, who signed as a free agent July 1?

"No expectation," he said. "I want him to enjoy his first game with us. I want him to play his game and to make a good impression on us, a bit like Nick Holden last year."

Holden was one of several Avalanche surprises last season when he had 10 goals, 15 assists and plus-12 plus/minus rating in 54 games. He's struggled this year with one assist and a minus-7 rating in seven games.

Alex Tanguay has scored a goal in three consecutive games and leads the team with three goals. Jarome Iginla (four assists) and Nathan MacKinnon (three assists) have yet to score a goal.

"Regardless of our record, I feel like we're getting better," MacKinnon said. "We've been leading in almost every game this season. We have to close things out."

The Canucks will play their third road game in four nights. They split the first two games and won 4-1 in St. Louis on Thursday behind goalie Ryan Miller, who made 31 saves, so Eddie Lack could get the call in net Friday.

Here is the Avalanche lineup:

FORWARDS
Alex Tanguay - Matt Duchene - Jarome Iginla
Gabriel Landeskog - Ryan O'Reilly - Nathan MacKinnon
Jamie McGinn - John Mitchell - Maxime Talbot
Cody McLeod - Marc-Andre Cliche - Daniel Briere

DEFENSEMEN
Nick Holden - Erik Johnson
Jan Hejda - Tyson Barrie
Brad Stuart - Zach Redmond

GOALIES
Semyon Varlamov
Reto Berra



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